Faerie Path Shuffle
by Laura Schiller
Summary: Twenty songs. Twenty drabbles. I've seen these in several other fandoms and thought it would be fun to do.
1. Chapter 1

Faerie Path Shuffle

By Laura Schiller

Series: The Faerie Path

Copyright: Frewin Jones (for the characters) and the artists named for the songs.

1. _Flora's Secret_, by Enya

Tania and Edric were lying side by side in Passion meadows, watching the flowers change color with the wind: scarlet, orange, gold. Above them, the sky was the deepest, clearest, purest shade of blue Tania's city-bred eyes have ever seen.

"It's amazing," she murmured. "How clean everything is. No airplane trails, no smog...I could stay here forever."

The air was cool and sweet in her face, scented with flowers and honey.

"I know something even more amazing," said Edric, stroking her hair. "It's you."

2. _Der Weg (The Way)_, by Herbert Grönemeyer

Titus watched through tear-blinded eyes as the flames went up around the small, white-shrouded figure of his beloved Zara. It was unbelievable. She should be laughing, dancing, singing with her silvery voice. Anything rather than this.

_You filled every room with sunlight, _he whispered to her in his mind. _Knowing you was like a taste of heaven...this is unjust. Unfair._

He looked up at the sparks thrown off by the fire, and he could have sworn he saw the figure of a girl rising up into the heavens, laughing, riding a unicorn.

3. _Verzeih (Forgive)_, by Reinhard Mey

Edric watched as Tania walked away from him, down the empty beige corridor on her way to the door. She acted as if he weren't even there. "At least try to act like you're fond of each other," he remembered Mrs. Wiseman saying.

She paused; one of the zippered pockets in her backpack was open. This was his opportunity. If he talked to her now, she'd probably just walk away, and he couldn't blame her either...not after what he'd said to her. But when she found his gift, surely she'd consider forgiving him?

He slipped the white Faerie rose into her backpack and left silently.

_Please, Tania. Forgive me._

4_. Meine Freundin, meine Frau (My Friend, My Wife)_ by Reinhard Mey

Lord Brython of Kymry smiled as he watched his lady sleep. Morning sunshine was slipping into their white, shell-shaped bedchamber and illuminating the fluttering silk curtains. Hopie's chestnut-colored hair shone warmly against the pillow; the sight of her long soft eyelashes touching her cheeks in sleep was just was beautiful as in the beginning of their marriage, and the lines of care and sadness in her face were smoothed away. His busy wife, always helping people, at rest for once.

5. _Goodbye,_ by Miley Cyrus

Tania sighed and shut the pages of her pink photo album. Those happy pictures just made her depressed – herself and Edric walking arm-in-arm, Edric stretched out on her dark-red sofa, even a kiss photo taken by Jade. Would they ever kiss again after that big fight?

Suddenly her cell phone rang and she looked at the display. Her heart stopped. Could it be - ?

It was. A single word: SORRY.

6_. It's In the Rain_, by Enya

Raindrops spattered mournfully onto the stained-glass windows of the Palace Library, almost lulling Sancha to sleep as the scents of dust and old paper hung heavily in the air. Her eyes ached with the effort of reading, but she kept on; it was her only escape from the darkness of her mind.

Prophecy was a curse. How much longer would she be haunted with the memory of screaming Soul Books, shrieking out words she could not close her ears to?

_Zara...why?_

7. _Maikäfer (Junebugs)_, by Reinhard Mey

"Are you sure?" Cordelia asked the crow perched on her wrist.

_Sure, Miss. Not a single one._

"How strange," said Cordelia, frowning. "What could be the matter?"

Later, as she told the story to her sisters, Tania nodded. "It's the same in the Mortal World," she explained. "Junebugs are getting hard to find these days. Maybe it's the climate change."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Mortals! Why they should pollute their own world thus, I shall never understand."

8. _7 Things_, by Miley Cyrus

Rathina hated Gabriel. His casual cruelty, the way he manipulated people without a thought for their feelings, his insane hunger for power, the way he had hurt her, and especially the way he made her love him so much without a single effort on his part.

Rathina loved Gabriel. His shining silver eyes, his beautiful face, the aura of mystery he wore, the kindness and courtesy he had once treated her with, the red roses he gave her...the way he made her love him was inescapable.

9. _Wunder (Miracles)_, by Zara Leander

Titania stared out at the lush green forest around Rafe Hawthorne's cottage without seeing them. Her heart was far away, journeying with her daughters in search of Oberon.

_Far, but not far, for our souls are one. One day a miracle shall happen, and a thousand tales of wonder shall come true, _she promised herself. _This I know._

Their love was stronger than years of separation the Socrerer King – anything.

10. _I Hope You Dance_, by LeeAnn Womack

The Seven Princesses of Faerie whirled across the shining dancefloor of the ballroom in a ring dance as their mother watched from her throne, smiling and blessing them silently. How she loved them, different as they were – all unique, all beautiful, like many-colored gems on a necklace.

_I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,_ she thought. _Living might mean taking chances, but they're worth taking...and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance._


	2. Chapter 2

1. Zum Meer (To the Sea) by Herbert Grönemeyer

They say the sorrows sent by God make you stronger, but the sorrows you bring upon yourself only cause you shame. Rathina had endured both, and she honestly couldn't tell the difference.

The water of the Tamesis was slate-grey, whipped by an angry winter storm. She wrapped herself tighter in her black cloak – mourning clothes, but for whom? – and shivered as she made her way down the banks. The storm without matched the turmoil within. She would rather be cold than stay in the warm gallery, facing the clear eyes of her sisters. She knew they had forgiven her...but could she forgive herself?

2. Kaspar Hauser, by Reinhard Mey

Savages. That was what her people were called. Clorimel had never worried about it before, but as she faced the three travel-weary Fid Foltaigg in front of her, she saw herself reflected in their eyes. A wild winged creature, skinny and in ragged clothes, with untidy hair and a completely different speech.

The male and the older female were looking at her blankly, but the youngest one, with fire-colored hair and bright green eyes, was gazing wistfully at Clorimel's wings. Clorimel could feel the stranger's longing as if it were her own – how would it be, to know the joy of flying, only to be confined to the ground forevermore? It made her so sorry for the three of them that she decided to speak. Savage though she might be, perhaps they weren't so different after all.

3. Mensch (Human Being) by Herbert Grönemeyer

Tania wondered if she was the only person in the world who had ever been offered the choice between mortality and immortality, or if there were others. If so, she wondered what they had chosen.

Looking around at the living tapestries in her magical bedchamber, she wondered briefly if she had chosen right. She would never age, never die unless she got on the wrong side of someone's sword or arrow. But she also wouldn't change beyond a certain point. She would watch her mortal parents age and die, remaining forever young herself.

Was that a blessing or a curse?

4. Viertel vor Sieben (A Quarter to Seven), by Reinhard Mey

Sometimes Tania felt nostalgic for the Mortal World. Coming home from school, jumping off the bus and walking down to her parents' house, to be greeted with a cuddle and a cup of chocolate milk. They didn't have Nesquik in the Faerie Realm. She missed TV, radio, staying up late in the evening texting Jade, and going to rock concerts with Edric. Life was so much easier back then. She knew who she was, where she belonged and where she was going.

Now she didn't know anything anymore. Whether there would be a light and a hot drink at the end of her dark journey, or whether she'd even survive it.

Patting the unicorn's neck and gazing at the mountains on the horizon, Tania sighed.

5. La Solitudine (Loneliness), by Laura Pausini

Jade missed her friend.

Without Anita there to laugh at her jokes, roll her eyes at her outrageous escapades, and share gossip over tortillas after school, life was decidedly flat and colorless. Anita was away at university somewhere in America, or so she had been told, and only came home every few months or so. But it wasn't the same as seeing her every day, being the first to notice things like new haircuts and jewelry, hearing every little thing about Anita's day and recounting her own.

Jade checked her cell phone. No new messages. Too bad.

6. Happy New Year, by ABBA

"It's been an eventful year, hasn't it?" Edric asked, sitting cozily in a sofa before the fire with his arm around Tania's shoulders.

"I'll say!" For her, more than anyone, it had been a year of incredible changes: finding out her Faerie heritage, the search for Titania, travelling all around the Faerie Realm and finally defeating the Sorcerer King. Tania herself had changed too – she had grown from a young schoolgirl into a princess, from a child into an adult. There was a new definition and purpose in her face which had not been there before, and looking at her, Edric realized all over again how much he loved her.

7. Ein Bisschen Frieden (A Bit of Peace) by Nicole

At times Eden felt like a bird left behind in winter, or like an unwanted doll. Looking outside from her tower, she saw the eternal twilight around her, just like the darkness inside her. All she wanted was a little bit of light, of peace, of respite in this battle with her own demons. Someone to tell her it was over, and she could stop hiding from herself.

8. Io Canto (I Sing), by Laura Pausini

Zara stood on the cliffs of Leiderdale, stretched out her arms and sang. Her voice came back to her in a dozen golden echoes, as if the whole sunlit landscape were peopled by a heavenly chorus. She sang for all the joyful things in her life – playing an instrument, flying on the Cloud Scudder, laughing with her sisters, her parents' loving, protective embrace. She sang for the taste of hot mulled wine in winter, the sight of a golden sunrise, the feeling of dancing with a handsome boy, the magnificence of the palace she called her home. She sang just because she could.

9. Teardrops on my Guitar, by Taylor Swift

It was just Rathina's bad luck to fall in love with her sister's betrothed. She couldn't even see any other man when he was around; his gentle kindness, the feeling of his hand on her waist when they danced, those dizzying silver eyes...

It was terrible to hate one's favorite sister, but she couldn't help it. Every time she saw them together, walking arm in arm, Tania wearing a red rose from him in her hair, looking too ridiculously beautiful and happy to endure. Not like her sullen, black-haired shadow of a sister.

A heavy tear fell onto Rathina's pillow; she turned it over and sighed.

10. Fast ein Liebeslied (Almost a Love Song), by Reinhard Mey

Writing a song, Tania realized, was harder work than one might think. She had more or less managed to cobble a tune together on that weird-looking lute of hers, but the lyrics were another matter. She wanted to write a song for Edric, as the Faerie people did for their loved ones, and play it on his birthday like you give someone a bunch of flowers. But how was she supposed to express how much he meant to her without sounding totally corny? _You're the light of my life, _etc.He was, too.

Smiling to herself, she realized that he probably would like the song no matter how corny it was, just because it came from her. That was the sort of boy he was, and one of the many reasons she loved him.


End file.
